The invention relates to a method and device for obtaining fibre material for the obtaining of a fibre material suitable for use as a raw material for insulation purposes or for the manufacture of non-wovens or as a padding or filling material, and the use thereof.
The principle is known of manufacturing insulating materials, filling or padding materials, or non-woven materials of this nature for insulation purposes in bed covers, sleeping bags, or the like. The known raw materials can be, for example, cotton, animal products, or plastics.
The cultivation of cotton plants is carried out as an intensive agricultural activity as a monoculture with, in most cases, considerable use of pesticides. For this reason, agricultural cultivation areas and their surroundings are subjected to heavy environmental burden and damage.
The obtaining of a raw material from animal products requires in part animal husbandry on a considerable scale, since the animal products are manufactured from duck and geese down and feathers.
The use of plastics, such as foamed materials, as insulation or filling materials, has the disadvantage that these plastics only breathe to a limited extent and in part give rise to possibly unhealthy emanations.
To manufacture insulation and filling materials or non-wovens, recourse is made, for example, to cotton fibres. It is well-known that cotton harvesting and cotton gin machinery are used to harvest and acquire plant fibres from the blossom of cotton plants. With the aid of these machines cotton bolls which have already opened are cut off and gathered in. The fibres are as a rule acquired in such a way that the pods which have already been emptied are also gathered. The fibres are then separated from the seeds of the cotton plants by mechanical ginning and centrifugal methods.
From DE 183 923 a machine is known for the gathering of fibres remaining adherent to the cotton seed pods, in which striker elements of the machine strike against the material to be processed with considerable force. A linting-ginning machine known from DE 23 37 227 A1 is intended for further processing of cotton seeds and the lint (short-staple cotton) adhering to them, in which the long-staple cotton is separated from the seeds beforehand by means of a ginning machine. The linting-ginning machine in question uses for this purpose, inter alia, a drum, which is clad on the inside with abrasive material.
The principal is further known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,270 of drying and cleaning the harvested fibres, already separated from boll pods, by means of heated air.
The objective on which the invention is based is, instead of the known methods of acquiring cotton fibres, of developing a simple and effectively applied acquisition of a vegetal or plant fibre material which handles the fibres as gently as possible.
This objective is achieved in accordance with the features of the independent claims.
Accordingly, the invention according to the independent method claim consists of a method for the acquisition of a fiber material suitable for use for insulation purposes or for the manufacture of non-woven materials, or as a filler or padding material, from the fruits of poplars, willows, composites or similar plants, with the use of which closed fruits of poplars, willows, composites or similar plants are dried and/or opened in a treatment process by means of an air flow in such a way, and are moved in a treatment chamber in such a way, that the fiber material contained in the fruit pods is largely released from the remaining constituents of the fruits.
The term xe2x80x9cfruitsxe2x80x9d is to be understood in this case not as the botanical-scientific term, but rather as the fruit pods, seed pods, and possibly also illusory fruits, which can be harvested as one unit from the plant (as far as possible in a largely or wholly closed state), which on opening, in accordance with the method according to the invention, release the fibres and seeds, whereby the fibres are largely separated from the seeds by the method according to the invention.
By means of the solution according to the invention, a substitution of the known insulating or filling materials is possible, in that a natural plant material native to Central Europe and other regions of the world can be acquired with the same or improved quality features. During cultivation and acquisition, it is possible to do away with monocultures requiring the use of pesticides and the agricultural investment, as well as with long hauling distances. The method is suitable, inter alia, for the seed hairs and the adherent elements to assist in the flight of the seeds of different species of poplar or willow (Salicacae) as well as composites (Asteracaea) and epilobium types.
Attention is drawn to the fact that the seeds do not necessarily have to be separated entirely from the seed hairs, since they can also be finally released and fall through in a subsequent further processing procedure in carding machines.
The fruits of the Salicacea cannot be harvested from the tree with existing machines, nor does the white tuft material of the fruits (seed hairs, floating appendages for flight-dispersal of the seeds) remain attached to the fruit pods after the pods have opened, because the adherent elements will already be carried off by a light wind.
The striker elements of the machine according to DE 183 923 would cause the contamination/discolouration of the fibres due to coloured plant constituents and/or the contamination of the fibres by vegetable oil due to the crushing of the seed pods. It is also of significance that the striker elements have an extreme mechanical effect on the plant fibres, which results in a clear reduction in the quality of the raw fibre material acquired. This applies in particular to the seed and fruit hairs of the plants particularly under consideration with regard to the invention, which feature a substantially finer fibre cross-section and which therefore react to mechanical effects in a more sensitive manner. It is therefore a main objective of the method according to the invention to exert no mechanical effect, or as little mechanical effect as possible on the fibres to be acquired.
With a rational harvesting of the fruit pods of poplar or willow by mechanical methods, it is only possible with additional effort to harvest the fruits separately from the seed spindles, fine stems, and leaves. This is however avoided by the solution according to the invention, in that the fruits, which have still not opened, are sawed-off with the branches from the trees, and coarser branches are then separated from the finer branches on which the fruit hangs. The harvested material with the fruits not yet opened is filled into a container for drying. By the admission of a hot air flow, the fruit pods can be dried and ripened and induced to open. After opening, fibre material and seeds are exposed. Seeds and fibre material are separated by the material being impacted onto itself, and by striking the walls of the container, as well as by means of air turbulences. This effect can be amplified by additional media located in the container, such as rotating paddles, mixing elements, wooden spheres, or the like. Powerful impacting by mechanical impact elements, however, does not take place.
In an optimum sequence of the method, one single cycle is sufficient for the fruit pods to be opened, separated from the residual constituents of the material introduced, and floating appendages are separated from the seeds. Because branches and leaves may also be filled into the container together with the fruit pods, the plants which are to be plucked cannot have the foliage stripped by artificial means.
In a preferred embodiment of the method, the harvested material is thoroughly pretreated, in that it is stored for one or two days at high air humidity (the material""s inherent moisture and possible condensation moisture are in general sufficient for this purpose), in order to initiate the process of releasing the seeds from the seed hairs in a manner which will not damage the fibres and without any mechanical effects.
In a preferred embodiment of the method, the harvested material is thoroughly pretreated, in that is watered for several days in order to initiate the process of releasing the seeds from the seed hairs in a manner which will not damage the fibres and without any mechanical effects.
In a preferred embodiment of the method, the harvested material is thoroughly pretreated, in that is deep-frozen before being filled into the device, in order to promote the process of detaching the seeds from the seed hairs.
In a preferred embodiment of the method, the harvested material is thoroughly pretreated in that, before being filled into the device, it is pretreated by at least initial fermentation and/or milling (mechanical exertion of pressure on the closed pods).
In a preferred embodiment of the method, the harvested material is thoroughly pretreated in that, before being filled into the device, it is broken up by powerful shaking.
In a preferred embodiment, the air flow carries the fibre material to a separation chamber, whereby the air flow in the separation chamber is reduced and the fibre material is caught, for example in a net (catchment net). The air flow carries the fibre material out of the treatment chamber of the container and conducts it to the separation chamber. In the separation chamber the air flow loses a considerable part of its eroding force. As a result, the heavy particles carried along in the air flow, such as seed kernels and smaller fruit pod fragments, may be deposited on the floor of the separation chamber. These can likewise be separated by means of screening techniques or other separation methods. The substantially lighter floating appendages are carried out through an outlet in the separation chamber by the air flow, which has become much weaker. The air flow carrying the floating appendages then conducts these elements to the net, the mesh width of which corresponds approximately to that of a mosquito net. The air can escape, while the floating appendages are caught.
To accelerate the harvesting process, branch material bearing fruits is brought into the treatment chamber. The branch material can be bent off, scraped off, and/or hacked off from the coarse branches before being filled into the container. The cutting of the fruit pods into small pieces during hacking does not cause a problem. Speeding up of the separation process can be achieved by the chamber moving or featuring a moving internal arrangement (drum insert).
Movement of the constituent parts which will promote their separation can be achieved by the container or a container insert element being arranged horizontally, and rotated about the longitudinal axis of the container.
In a preferred embodiment of the method, the separation of the seeds from the seed hairs is enhanced in that filler substances are used in the rotating drum, which drop onto the seed hairs connected to the seeds. The use of filler substances with surfaces which are not hard, or which are in fact soft, permits extensive protection of the fibres. In particular, with embodiments according to the invention, additional light filling material with hard surface is used in the rotating drum, depending on the type of plant. To further advantage, additional cork granulates can be used in the rotating drum.
With methods according to the invention, additional cereal grains, corn-cob residue/internal elements, acorns, chestnuts, wood chippings, bark chippings, slivers, broken chips, limestone grit (crushed limestone), lightweight minerals, such as swelling clay or tufa or similar filler materials can be used.
In a preferred embodiment of the device, the separation chamber is considerably larger (in one example, twice as wide) in the horizontal than in the vertical direction. This results in the advantage that the contaminated material, when precipitating, no longer impedes the pure fibre material in suspension, since the two fractions which are to be separated already flow along separate paths from the moment of emerging from the connection channel leading to the separation chamber.
The fibre caught in the catchment net can optionally be further processed in order to manufacture insulating materials, filling materials, papers, and body paddings or coverings and/or non-woven materials at least partially from the fibre material. The fibre material is suitable for persons allergic to bird feathers and animal hair.
In one embodiment of the device, instead of the separation chamber with catchment device, a cyclone separator is provided for, by means of which the lightweight seed hairs are separated from the heavy contaminants. This embodiment, however, is not very gentle to the fibres from the present perspective.
With the method and device, at least two of the features of the method and device referred to heretofore can be combined.